In today's globalized world where global brands quickly adopt to local demands in order to gain customer acceptance, being a local brand seems like waging a losing battle. But one Asian brand has proved this wrong by beating a global giant flat!

Jollibee is the brand pride of the Philippines. The brand has been so hugely successful that even the mighty McDonald's has been forced to copy Jollibee. Jollibee was started in 1975 as a two brand ice cream parlor by a small time entrepreneur Tony Tan. Jollibee gradually expanded its product portfolio to venture into the burger business. From 2 outlets in 1975, the brand has come a long way and today has more than 400 outlets in Philippines alone and 24 outlets in 7 countries including the US, China and Hong Kong.

A whopping 69% choose Jollibee compared to a mere 16% for McDonald's of the entire fast food population in the Philippines.

What is the secret behind Jollibee's success? Many factors have contributed to the rapid and sustained success. The most important one is Jollibee's in-depth consumer knowledge of the Filipino taste buds. When McDonald's entered the Philippines, it offered its standard menu to the Filipinos. Jollibee was quick to offer customized menu that suited Filipino's tastes. That was the starting point. Jollibee added friendly staff and service around its core products. The company created a family ambience in all of the outlets as it realized that a Filipino family revolves around its children. On top of this was the fact that Jollibee was a home grown brand, owned and managed by Filipinos. This created the strong emotional bond between the fast food brand Jollibee and its loyal customers.

By combining excellent service, a pleasant ambience with an enticing menu, the Jollibee brand has been able to leverage its home grown status to the hilt.